This chapter describes tools for researchers to address the tasks of problem definition, measurement, causal processes, and generalization. We begin with an extended example of developing practice-based evidence in community-based youth justice organizations in New York City.
Category: Books & Chapters
The Juvenile Justice Policy Landscape
The diverse mix of policies and practices in the juvenile justice system raises questions about its future.
What Are the Most Important Studies of Desistance and What Are the Future Research Needs?
It is generally agreed that aggregate crime rates peak in late adolescence/early adulthood and gradually drop thereafter, but there remains some debate about the cause of this decline.
The Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior: Theory, Research and Practical Applications
This edited book summarizes the current state of knowledge on the development of criminal and antisocial behavior over the life course.
Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology (7th Edition)
Maxfield and Babbie review and explain how research methods are applied in criminal justice and criminology, combining an accessible style and conversational writing with deep expertise in criminology and criminal justice.
The Second American Crime Drop
Are today’s violent crime rates different from the rates of 30 years ago? Do trends in serious and violent crime by juveniles (under age 18) differ from trends among older youth (i.e., young adults ages 18-24), and how much of the overall crime decline that began in the 1990s can be attributed to juvenies and older youth?
History of Substance Abuse Treatment
Henninger, Alana and Hung-En Sung (2014). History of substance abuse treatment. In Gerben Bruinsma and David Weisburd (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, pp. 2257-2269. New York: Springer. Forensic science may reasonably be viewed as having played an important role in the professionalization of policing that began in the late nineteenth century. While there [...]
Current Practice in the Juvenile Justice System
Butts, Jeffrey [committee member] with Simon Singer (2013). Current Practice in the Juvenile Justice System (Chapter 3, pp. 49-88). In Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach. Richard J. Bonnie, Robert L. Johnson, Betty M. Chemers, and Julie A. Schuck (Editors). Washington, DC: National Research Council of the National Academies. Report in Brief Juvenile justice is a [...]
Reducing the Risks and Consequences of Crime Victimization in Schools
Butts, Jeffrey, Douglas Evans, and Jocelyn Fontaine (2013). Reducing the Risks and Consequences of Crime Victimization in Schools. In Victims of Crime. Robert C. Davis, Arthur J. Lurigio, and Susan Herman (Editors), Fourth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Recent surveys of school administrators and students indicate that school crime is falling in the [...]
Mail Survey in Social Research
Alana Henninger and Hung-En Sung (2012). Mail Survey in Social Research, in Lior Gideon (Editor), Handbook of Survey Methodology for the Social Sciences, pp. 297-311. New York: Springer. This chapter begins with a concise overview of the long history of the use of mail survey in the Western civilization. Then it examines the three main [...]
Pushing Back the Frontiers of Knowledge on Desistance from Crime: Current and Future Directions
Kazemian, Lila (2012). Pushing back the frontiers of knowledge on desistance from crime: Current and future directions. In Rolf Loeber and Brandon C. Welsh (Eds.), The Future of Criminology (pp. 134-140). New York: Oxford University Press. This chapter summarizes current knowledge about desistance, the study of which has moved from event to process analyses based [...]
Better Research for Better Policies
Butts, Jeffrey A. and John Roman (2011). Better Research for Better Policies, in Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice. Sherman, Francine and Francine Jacobs (Editors). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. To do their jobs effectively, policymakers, professionals, and community partners must be able to access high-quality information about the impact of policies and [...]
Varieties of Juvenile Court…
Butts, Jeffrey A., John K. Roman, and Jennifer Lynn-Whaley (2011). Varieties of Juvenile Court: Nonspecialized Courts, Teen Courts, Drug Courts, and Mental Health Courts, in The Oxford Handbook of Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice, Barry C. Feld and Donna M. Bishop (Editors). New York: Oxford University Press. This chapter addresses the growing use of specialized, [...]
The U.S. Juvenile Justice Policy Landscape
Willison, Janeen B., Daniel P. Mears, and Jeffrey A. Butts (2011). The U.S. Juvenile Justice Policy Landscape. In U.S. Criminal Justice Policy: A Contemporary Reader. Karim Ismaili (Editor). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning, Inc. The diverse mix of policies and practices introduced in recent years raises important questions about the posture of juvenile justice today. Most [...]
Trends in American Youth Crime
Jeffrey A. Butts and Daniel P. Mears (2011). Trends in American Youth Crime. In Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice, David W. Springer and Albert R. Roberts (Editors). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. This chapter answers two deceptively simple questions, “How much juvenile crime is there today?” and “How does the level of juvenile crime today [...]
A Community Youth Development Approach to Gang Control Programs
Jeffrey A. Butts and Caterina Gouvis Roman (2010). A Community Youth Development Approach to Gang Control Programs. In Youth Gangs and Community Intervention: Research, Practice, and Evidence. Robert J. Chaskin (Editor). New York: Columbia University Press. This chapter describes a potential path to a stronger conceptual framework for youth gang prevention and early intervention that draws upon [...]